


Can I Trust You One Last Time?

by MicrosoftPaint



Category: Carmen Sandiego (Cartoon 2019)
Genre: Angst, F/F, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Gay, but it’s all laughs and fun times at the end I promise, it started out that way but it was 2am when I finished this so those elements are kinda small lol, kind of, lots and lots of angst, this is the longest fic I’ve written since my 13 y/o fanfic.net days lmao, wlw
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-27
Updated: 2019-10-27
Packaged: 2021-01-04 13:40:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,444
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21198557
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MicrosoftPaint/pseuds/MicrosoftPaint
Summary: After the twins eat some bad chili dogs, and while Shadowsan is on a mission thousands of miles away, Carmen is quickly backed into a corner regarding her own caper, which involves bringing a date to a couple’s ball. Despite what had happened in Stockholm, Carmen decides to trust Julia one last time in order to stop the theft of “The Kiss”, a famous painting that’s being put on display in Austria.





	Can I Trust You One Last Time?

**Author's Note:**

> So uhhhh I wrote this from like 11pm to 2am, and while I did go through and edit it, I’m so sorry if some things don’t make sense lol. This is the longest fic I’ve written in years, so hopefully it holds up!

“I told you two those chili dogs looked weird.” Carmen commented, reclining in her plane seat. She, along with Zack and Ivy, were on their way to Austria to stop V.I.L.E from getting their hands on yet another valuable painting. Or they were, at least until the latter two started losing their lunch in the airplane bathrooms.

“Carm, you- ughhh- know I can’t pass one up when I see it. This was fates cruel fault, not mine!” Zach groaned, holding his stomach tight. 

“I regret my life choices...” Ivy muttered, slumping into her own seat next to the red haired thief, who was currently taking none of their shit.

“As you should. And Zach, there was a perfectly good nacho place next door, why didn’t you just get some of those?” Carmen asked, exasperated. More than exasperated, in all honesty, as one of her companions was needed at top shape for the caper which was in, oh right, three hours.

“I uh...” Zach started, before having to pause and let his stomach settle. Once he regained his composure, he continued. “I kind of... did? That probably didn’t help things, did it?” He asked sheepishly, before feeling another round of chili make its way up his throat. Before Carmen could reply, he was already dashing to the nearest bathroom.

“I’m surrounded by idiots...” Carmen muttered, shaking her head. She had to rework her plan, and do it fast. See, the event she was going to was a ball. A couples ball. She wasn’t getting into the Austrian Gallery Belvedere without a date, not unless she snuck in. However, she’d already deduced that would take far too long to do successfully, so she needed someone else.

The only problem? There was no one else. Shadowsan was old enough to be her dad, and thousands of miles away at that, so he wasn’t an option. She couldn’t risk getting Gray- er- Graham mixed up in all of this again, so that was out of the question too. A third option came to mind, but Carmen quickly shut down that possibility. Sure, this third person was always where she was, and had helped her in the past but... Carmen shook her head, trying to clear it. No, no matter how much she wanted to, she couldn’t trust Julia. Not after Stockholm. Her gut twisted as she remembered the betrayal, someone she once considered an ally, a trustworthy friend; Hell Carmen was even starting to consider her as more than that, it killed her on the inside. 

But she wasn’t about to let heartache stop her, she was Carmen Sandiego after all. She’d just have to make quick, albeit far more risky, work of the security. It’s not like she hasn’t had to do that before, she’d just have to be incredibly careful. Content with her new plan, but still having her mood dampened, she decided to sleep for the rest of the flight, wanting to be in the best headspace possible for the mission.

———

Running through the streets of Austria, Carmen was getting the low-down from Player. 

“Alright Red, here’s what we’ve got. The Austria Gallery Belvedere is the most popular museum in all of Austria, and is home to a multitude of famous paintings. It’s also the summer home to Prince Eugene of Savoy, who as you know is hosting the event.” Player paused, before realizing something. “Say, did Ivy or Zack ever recover? Or are we going with plan B?” The teen asked, trying to tap into the security system of the gallery undetected. It was slow going since a Prince was involved, so her seriously hoped the food poisoning had run its course with the Bostonians.

“Thanks for the info, Player, but no, they haven’t. Looks like we’re going with plan... hold on, I think I see something.” Before Player had the chance to respond, she turned off her comms in order to stop the frequency it emitted from being recognized by what she was pretty sure was ACME agents. 

“Great. Perfect. I guess I should’ve known they’d be on my trail after I extracted the info from their database...” Carmen grumbled, quickly finding a hiding place. Looking around, she spotted three agents. The first agent Carmen wasn’t particularly familiar with, but then she shifted her focus to the second. “Is that... Chase Devineaux...?” She questioned, already groaning internally. She was glad to see the guy doing better, but would rather him stay faaaar away from anywhere she was. Rolling her eyes, her gaze landed on the last agent. “Oh...”

Of course. Of course Jules- why was she still calling her that? Agent Julia Argent was there. In her sights. 

Despite every bit of logic telling her not to, she looked closer at the girl, who seemed to have something weighing on her mind. More than that, she looked sad, guilty even. Carmen wondered if Julia knew what she was in Austria for, or rather who, and if she’d regretted what had happened all those weeks ago. Every nervous glance around, every hopeful flare in her gaze as a red hat came into her sights, followed by a disappointed look to the ground... it all told her that she did. Carmen knew people, she knew how to read them...

...Or did she? Was Julia really showing all these signs, or was Carmen trying to trick herself into believing that Jules was still on her side. She shook her head, trying to clear it, but it seemed that it wasn’t clear enough, as a few moments later she found herself pulling Julia into the nearest shop.

“Huh? Hey! Who’s pulling m- oh...” Carmen turned to see the realization dawn on Julia’s face. This realization, however, quickly shifted into nervousness, as Julia averted her gaze from the redhead.

“Ms. Sandiego, I didn’t notice you... I, uh...” she started, looking like she was trying to remember a speech she’d prepared for hours on end.

“Ms. Argent.” Carmen said cooly, bringing Julia’s attention back to her. The smaller woman flinched, realizing what the taller had called her. Carmen felt a twang of guilt, but reminded herself it was perfectly reasonable to be wary of her hopefully soon-to-be fake date. Once Julia’s eyes were on her, she continued.

“I... need your help for a caper. I wouldn’t ask this if I had any other option, but I don’t. Can I trust you?” She asked, her gaze far more intense than she probably meant it to be, but it got the message across. 

Julia looked like a deer in headlights, but quickly nodded. “All I’ve wanted to do was to make up for what happened in Stockholm. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I didn’t have the chance...” she sighed, looking away from Carmen. Was Julia... worried that she hadn’t made it...?

“Gotten promoted for taking me out, probably.” Carmen responded, before she could think. She immediately regretted it though, as she could basically pinpoint the exact moment that Julia’s heart broke. “I... that was uncalled for. Sorry Julia...” she flinched, before putting back on her normal, cool persona.

“If you’d just give me the chance to explain-“ Julia started, but Carmen held her hand up to stop her.

“After the caper. I’ll let you explain later, but we have work to do now.” Carmen promised, before bringing Julia to a place they could sit. Once they were both comfortable, or well, as comfortable as they could be, Carmen told the agent what was going on.

“So yeah, we need to stop a painting, “The Kiss” from being stolen. Now usually, this is something I could handle on my own, however the security is much more... tight, since there’s a prince involved. The only way in is, well, to bring a date with you.” Carmen explained, feeling her cheeks flush up involuntary. She was very thankful for her darker complexion in that moment.

Julia, however, was not so lucky. Her whole face turned a bright shade of pink, as she realized the implications of what Carmen was saying. “Ms. Sandiego, are you...?” She stopped, looking confused. The taller of the two wasn’t surprised, seeing their earlier conversation was pretty tense. Still, Carmen couldn’t help but think Julia’s blushing face was kinda... cute?

“It’s a FAKE date, Jules, don’t worry.” She chuckled, forgetting for a moment that things were supposed to be on the rocks between them. “Once we get in, you can go look at the paintings on display, I know you’re an enthusiast like I am. I’ll take care of the rest.” Carmen explained, before her facial expression turned serious again. “Can you get the agents off your back long enough to do that?” She questioned, eyeing the pen in Julia’s shirt pocket.

To Carmen’s surprise, Julia let out a bitter laugh, quite unlike her typical mild-mannered self. “They don’t care about what I say anymore, not since you hacked the system... Though truthfully it’s been like that for a while. They can go a few hours without input from me.” She looked saddened, her expression faltering for a few heartbeats. 

Julia managed to compose herself fairly quickly though, and give a more straightforward answer. “They’ll have already either started looking for me to make sure I’m not meeting up with you, or they won’t notice for two hours. And based on the fact that we haven’t been caught yet, I’m willing to bet it’s the latter.”

“Glad to hear it.” Carmen nodded, standing up. Before leaving leaving for their next destination though, she paused. “And... For what it’s worth, Julia, I definitely care about what you have to say.” And with that, and a deeply flustered Julia, the duo were off to the dance.

————

Once at the dance, Carmen realized that they still had some time to spare. “Looks like we have about five minutes until I need to get to the painting, wanna grab some punch?” She suggested, spotting a surprisingly causal all you can eat buffet on the side.

“I don’t see why not... maybe I could explain what happened in the meantime? Y’know, back in...” Julia started, before her nerves took over.

“...yeah, I know. You’ll have to make it short though, time is down to four minutes.” She nodded, against her better judgement. She knew she should’ve been checking in with Player right about now but... just they way Julia looked... she really needed this.

“That’s all I need.” Julia sighed in relief, taking a sip of her newly acquired punch. Once the pair had found a secluded area, she began her explanation. 

“So, I’m not sure if you know this, but people don’t usually listen to me all that often.” Julia began, chuckling nervously.

“I kind of gathered. Is that why Chase is back on your team?” She joked, wondering if anyone would willingly work with the loud mouthed investigator.

Julia giggled, but shook her head. “No, no. If anyone knows how to reign him in, albeit not very well, it’s me. I was kind of the obvious choice, and besides, like I said, they don’t really trust me alone right now.” She explained, before sighing. “Now where was I? Oh, right. I had just told Chief to leave me be so I could talk with you in private. She agreed, and we went into the museum. That’s when... well, you know what happened, so I’ll skip to the aftermath.” Julia looked down at her drink, and the reflection inside. How did she end up here, working with who was supposed to be the enemy, talking bad about her own company?

“Julia? ...Jules? You okay there?” Carmen waved her hand in front of the other girls face, snapping her out of whatever trance she was in. “You kinda spaced there for a second, everything alright?”

Julia nodded quickly. “Yeah, it’s all good. Now back to what I was saying... I asked chief why she broke our agreement, and she said it was because I had gone off radar. It’s like... she didn’t trust me out there alone. It’s frustrating to say the least, and at the most, well, pardon my French but... J'étais sur le point de gifler la pure pour avoir enfreint son accord et vous avoir forcée dans la position qu'elle a prise.”

Carmen nearly did a spit-take of her own punch, understanding every word of what Julia said. Mind you, she said it with a completely straight face, and her normal tone of voice. After recovering from a small coughing fit, she responded. “Seems you have a pretty strong moral code, huh Jules?” 

“Don’t forget good intuition, and the only one with a brain large enough to recognize that you were on our side from the beginning.” Julia responded, somewhat passive aggressively.

Carmen’s eyes widened in surprise. “Woah, I didn’t realize you had this side to you. I like it.” She smirked, clearly pleased to see Julia wasn’t letting ACME get in the way of what she thought was right. It was honestly kinda... hot?

“There’s a lot you don’t know about me, Ms. Sandiego” she responded, smirking, before taking a sip of her punch. Yep, definitely hot. Once she was finished with her punch, Julia looked towards her once more. “I must ask though, why did you steal the information from ACME? I’m sure chief would’ve been willing to help you find what you wanted. She seemed quite fond of you before the incident, you know.”

“Oh, yeah, that...” Carmen shifted her weight from her left to her right, not sure what to divulge. Looking down, she noticed her watch, and soon the ACME hack was the last thing on her mind. “Uh, later. Caper starts now. Make sure no one steals my drink, alright? I’ll come back for it.” She nodded towards Julia, before sprinting off to the back room.

That was about as much confirmation as Julia needed that Carmen would return to give her answers, which she was relieved to know. Realizing she had nothing better to do, Julia started walking around and looking at some of the paintings. Smiling softly, she wondered what Carmen would think of all of them.

—————

“Shit!” Carmen nearly yelled in pain as she felt sharp claws rake across her back. She was currently fighting against Tigress, and it had been going well up until then. Silently patting herself on the back for choosing red as her signature color as to not completely ruin her dress, she soon regained the upper hand and punched the feline woman in the face. Hard. In fact, hard enough, and in just the right spot, to break her nose.

“I JUST recovered from the last broken nose you gave me, come ON!” Tigress held onto her nose, cursing profusely at the pain.

“Then protect your face, it’s not that hard. It’s like, the first lesson they taught us at the Academy” Carmen chuckled, masking the fact that she was in a good amount of pain. Tigress was the type to spot weaknesses and take advantage of it, so it was safer for her to act. 

Tigress let out a menacing laugh, or well, as menacing as one can be with a broken nose. “You may have beat me for now, but it’s too late to steal the painting- it’s about to go on display. The only way you’re getting it is if you stick around long enough to take it from us afterwards, and since you probably don’t have a date, that isn’t happening. They’re kicking out everyone who doesn’t in a minute, and security is going to get insane here. I’m partnering up with someone, how about you, black sheep?” 

Carmen rolled her eyes. “Your name calling doesn’t affect me, Tigress. And don’t worry, I’ll be back. Don’t miss me too much~” she blew a (very passive aggressive) kiss towards tigress, and made her way back to the main floor once the other had stomped off in a huff. On the way, she wondered what kind of batshit crazy security would kick someone out for not having a date.

Once out of Tigresses sight, she cursed. “Shit, I need to get back to Jules. I don’t want her getting kicked out... but first...” Quickly making her way to a bathroom, Carmen checked her wounds. “Welp, these are certainly gonna leave a scar” she commented, but was relieved to find that they weren’t as deep as she once thought. Taking out some gauze she kept in a special made dress pocket, she managed to wrap some around herself. It certainly wasn’t pretty, but could, uh, probably be brushed off as a fashion statement if she played her cards well enough. At least that’s what she told herself.

After taking care of that, Carmen made her way back out to the floor, and found Julia rather quickly. “Jules! Good to see you haven’t been kicked out” She chuckled, honestly just relieved to see a friendly face.

Julia visibly sighed in relief, looking towards Carmen. “Yes, it did take you quite a while to get back out here. Did everything go okay? Is “The Kiss” okay?” She questioned, before spotting the tiniest bit of gauze poking out of Carmen’s dress. “...Are you okay?”

“That obvious, huh? Yeah, Tigress got me pretty bad in a fight...” Carmen admitted, wincing as she moved a little bit in the wrong way. “Think this could pass as a fashion statement for someone who doesn’t know what I’m doing?” She asked jokingly.

Julia walked behind her, and looked. “Only an undead themed fashion show could you get away with this, Ms. Sandiego” she shook her head disapprovingly and walked back around. “Here, take my jacket, it’ll cover everything up. However, I must insist that once this is over you get proper medical help.”

Taking off her jacket, Julia handed it to Carmen. The latter’s face flushed as she received it, knowing the tropes all too well from the movies she’d seen. There was no doubt the jacket was much too small on Carmen, and there was no way in hell she was going to be able to button it, but it covered her back well enough. “I... thanks, Jules.” Carmen smiled sheepishly towards her, which surprised Julia, who’d never seen Carmen be sheepish at anything.

After a few seconds though, Carmen was back to normal. Or at least as normal as one can be with eight large cuts running down their back. “I guess we kinda gotta do this whole fake dating thing now, huh?” Carmen chuckled, her laugh bringing Julia back into reality. 

“I suppose it would be for the best, in order to convince the security and the other couples and all...” Julia responded, a small smile dawning on her face. As if on cue, the music slowed down, and couples started heading to the dance floor. “May I have this dance, Ms. Sandiego?” She asked, reaching out for her hand.

“You may, Ms. Argent” Carmen smirked back. Unlike the first time, this time when Carmen called Julia by her formal name, it felt lighter, and much more natural. Taking her hand, the two headed out to the dance floor.

Once they had fallen into a steady rhythm, Julia was the one to initiate conversation. “Are you holding up alright with the scratches?” She asked, concern shining within her gaze.

“As long as you don’t dip me, I’ll be fine. Don’t worry about it, alright Jules?” Carmen asked softly, smiling as she noticed how the light helped capture Julia’s adorable freckles. “Let’s just enjoy the dance while we can, because after this I gotta go back and finish things with Tigress.”

Julia nodded, before asking something else. “So before you left... you were about to tell me what had happened with why you hacked our database. I don’t want to seem pushy but I must admit, I am curious as to why you did it.” 

“Fair enough, I did promise answers...” Carmen sighed, before debating with herself how much she should give away. In the end, she decided to give the truth. For the first time in weeks, she found herself trusting the agent, which was a welcome feeling.

And so Carmen described how Chief had murdered her biological father, and how she needed answers from the database itself. Upon completing the hack, she found the name “Vera Cruz”, who was her supposed biological mother. Now she was looking for leads on where to find her, so she could reunite with at least one of her parents. It didn’t take long to explain, but once she finished, the tall girl had a bittersweet, yet determined look about her. 

“Oh Carmen, I had no idea...” Julia responded once the girl in red finished her story. “I’m sorry to hear that happened, and you have every right to answers! Just next time, maybe don’t make it as obvious.” Julia commented, agreeing with Carmen’s sentiments.

Carmen nodded in agreement. “Yeah, that’s fair. I think I was just angry and... wanted to make a statement I guess? Probably wasn’t my best move” she chuckled 

“Understatement of the year, but I agree.” Julia chuckled along with her, and tilted her head up to get a better look at Carmen’s face. Julia had known the girl was beautiful, but wow... seeing her now, chuckling as they swayed to a slow song... it all felt so surreal, but also like things were finally falling into place? Her face tinted a soft pink as she silently cursed herself for her porcelain white skin, and hoped the other girl wouldn’t notice. But, of course, this is THE Carmen Sandiego, and Julia knew that not a lot got past her.

Carmen was a lot of things, but subtle wasn’t one of them. Once she picked up on what Julia was thinking, she immediately formulated a plan. “Hey... y’know what would really convince security that were a couple...?” Carmen questioned, a smirk forming on her face.

“Hm...?” Julia questioned, her blush quickly becoming three times as noticeable. God, she was adorable. 

“This...” Carmen began to lean down, forgetting all her other worries at the moment. The painting, Tigress, V.I.L.E, ACME, it all seemed to fade away in those precious few moments before...

A loud crash rang through the hall as Tigress, holding the painting they were there for, burst through the door and into the crowd. Once she spotted Carmen, she ran in her direction, stopping only to yell at her. “HAH! JOKES ON YOU SUCKERS! The person I teamed up with this mind controlled the whole security staff! Kicking out people because they’re not with someone? Ridiculous! I just thought you’d be alone because you’re such a weirdo! Well, whatever, good luck catching me now!-“ 

At that moment, Julia pulled out her ACME issued gun and shot the sleeping gas within it at Tigress, causing her to collapse on the ground, fast asleep. 

“Nice moves, Jules.” Carmen gave her a smirk, putting up a confident facade. 

“I’m just gonna let you know I heard all that. At least everything after Tigress showed up” Player suddenly chimed in, causing Carmen fo freeze. “Oh, shit- I’ve had the comms turned off since I got to the marketplace, haven’t I?” She asked, cringing inwardly.

“Eh, I don’t blame you. You queerly, I mean clearly, weren’t thinking straight.” Player coughed, trying to act all innocent. 

“...You’ve been able to hear me since the dance started, haven’t you?” She asked, feeling her face turn the shade of her dress. She groaned inwardly as Player responded with a snicker.

“And it’s a good thing, too! Now I can hack into the mind control frequency and... there! Now no one has to be anyone’s fake date anymore.” Carmen could tell Player put finger quotes around the word fake and didn’t appreciate it, instead grumbling something about how it was 4am his time and “shouldn’t you be asleep???”

After some laughs, looking around to make sure nothing else was stolen (it wasn’t) and once the security managed to clear everything up, Carmen let out a sigh of relief. That is, until, she saw an ACME car pull up. She looked at Julia sadly, wondering if this is where they’d part ways.

Julia seemed to notice this too, and looked almost... smaller? “I guess this is goodbye, Ms.- er- Carmen?” She gave a sad smile, tucking her sleep gun into its holster.

“I mean... unless you wanted to come with us...?” Carmen asked before she could stop herself. “You’d be an amazing asset to our team, and uh, it would be awesome to have someone else around who appreciates art and history as much as I do.” She gave a sheepish smile, hoping for the best.

Julia looked conflicted. On one hand, she wanted to do everything she could to get the others on her side to see that Carmen was a good guy, but on the other... she knew that bridge was burned. There would be no more convincing, only choosing. Weighing her options, the shorter girl finally came to a decision. 

“Ah, fuck it.” She muttered, before rushing over to Carmen, grabbing the collar of her own jacket that the other was wearing, and bringing it, along with Carmen’s face, down into an explosive kiss. Once the initial shock wore off, Carmen was more than happy to reciprocate, even going so far as to pick her up and twirl her around. At least, that’s what she would’ve done, if she didn’t accidentally move her back the wrong way and irritating the lacerations. 

The kiss only broke after this, Julia not wanting to irritate her wounds any further. Carmen, dazed, and only in moderate amounts of pain, gave a cheeky grin to Julia. “Welcome to team Red, Jules.”

Julia giggled. “Why thank you Carmen, now about that medical treatment?” She asked, the look in her eyes both playful and serious.

“Alright, alright. Player, what’s the status on Ivy and Zack?” She questioned.

“Ivy says she feels better, but wants to admit Zack into a hospital. Looks like you guys are headed to the same place.” He commented. “They’ll be here in about thirty seconds. Be prepared to make it quick, I don’t think ACME will appreciate you being spotted with one of their own-” The teen advised, before turning his attention back to other things.

“You heard the hacker, let’s move!” Carmen held her hand out, and Julia took it. Running to the car, Julia felt a kind of happiness she’d never felt before. Someone had finally listened, and that someone just so happened to be the thief of her heart.

**Author's Note:**

> Welp, that’s it! I hope y’all enjoyed! Be sure to let me know if you want more of these two dorks, cause I have a WHOLE Miraculous Ladybug/ Carmen Sandiego Julethief AU I’m willing to write about at one point or another haha. 
> 
> See y’all next time! This is MicrosoftPaint signing off!


End file.
